Articles of furniture of the aforementioned type are known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 2,794,492 and U.S. Pat No. 2,574,387.
These prior art arrangements, which relate to folding chairs, have a foldable structure which comprises either a sliding pivot joint or a hook type connection of the individual elements at at least one location. Thus, whilst the chairs can fold into a relatively compact shape in their folded-away position, the slide and hook arrangements of these types of chairs are prone to jamming, sticking and difficulties with locating the elements with respect to each other. This is particularly the case when the chair has been used many times and the components become worn or dirty, or for example where the material of the chair is subject to age variations (e.g. wooden chairs).
One solution to the problem with sliding joints has been to provide high precision components and high quality surface finishes for the joint assemblies such that the sliding movements result in less wear due to low friction. However, even with such precision, lubrication is often required on the sliding surfaces after much handling, which lubrication is unsightly and may cause damage or staining if the chairs are made of wood.
A further problem which arises with such foldable chairs is the difficulty of handling the chair in order to collapse or unfold it. For example, only with very lightweight chairs is the construction according to U.S. Pat. No. 2,574,387 easily usable, since the chair must first be lifted in order to effect folding.
One of the objects of the present invention is thus to arrive at an article of furniture which does not require sliding joints and in particular sliding pivot joints.
A further object of the invention is to arrive at an article of furniture which is readily foldable into a collapsed (folded-away) position and into a position of use (folded-out position).